Guess Why Honda is using Thin Film Solar Panels to power Dealerships and Auto Plants

7 Feb, 2012
Solar Energy,Solar Panels

It is not widely known that ,Honda is a manufacturers of CIGs thin film solar panels alongwith the likes of TSMC, Solar Frontier and others. Honda has been in the solar panel manufacturing business of the last 3-4 years though its capacity remains small and its panels not very efficient. Like many conglomerates , Honda too entered the solar industry during the boom times and now would be finding the going hard . Note a number of Japanese solar companies have existed the business like Sumco and others. However Honda which remains a very marginal player in the global solar business is not going away . Instead it is using its own solar panels to power its own dealerships and auto plants.

Honda,the Japanese auto giant has also joined the Solar Energy Race by selling Thin Film Modules based on CIGs technology.Japan’s conglomerates like Sharp,Kyocera,Mitsubishi and Panasonic already have big solar manufacturing operations with Sharp being the largest Solar Company in the World.Honda which has a small presence in the Solar Energy through its subsidiary Honda Soltec is expanding its lines of modules for the domestic market.NoteSouth Korean Chaebols like Hanwha,Samsung,Hyundai and Taiwanese biggies like TSMCand AUO have a put in huge investments into solar manufacturing recently

Honda’s modules have an efficiency of 11.6% which seems lower than those claimed by the TSMC-Stion,Miasole and Q-Cells.These companies are claiming 13% efficiency though none of these companies have large scale commercial production as of now.Q-Cells  and Miasole are at the head of the CIGs pack with companies like Nanosolar,Solyndra,Solar Frontier and TSMC-Stion closely following.CIGs technology is said to be the best thin film technology better than the Cd-Te technology used by First Solar and a-Si technology used by Sharp and the now bankrupt Applied Materials thin film division.

The reason it is using its own CIGs solar panels is most probably the fact that nobody else is buying its solar panels and rather than waste them it is powering its plants with them . Having a small under 100 mw plant these days is totally unviable and that too for a thin film technology .First Solar  which is the biggest thin film player in the world is finding the going tough ,so Honda Soitec would be finding the current situation super tough.

Honda Motor Co., Ltd. announced the installation of a 9 kilowatt-capacity solar power generation system at the Adachi Odai location of the Honda Cars Tokyo Chuo dealer network. The installation kicks off a project to install Honda Soltec(1) solar power generation systems with a total capacity of 1 megawatt at Honda automobile dealership locations in Japan by March 31, 2014.

Striving to realize a low carbon society, Honda has been installing solar power generation systems at Honda operations in Japan. The combined capacity of solar power generation systems installed to date has reached 3.3 megawatts, the largest in Japan among all automakers operating. Honda has been already installing solar power generation systems at some Honda automobile dealership locations; however, in order to further extend the effort to reduce CO2 emissions in the area of sales, Honda made a decision to pursue this large-scale installation of solar power generation systems that includes the installation of a display monitor which shows current power generating situation of solar panels to customers who visit the dealership location. Furthermore, Honda is planning to install a 2.6-megawatt Honda Soltec solar power generation system to the new Yorii Plant, which is scheduled to become operational in 2013. This will be the largest solar power generation system installed at an automobile production plant in Japan.

Appendix

Manufacturers of Solar Thin Film Panels

1) First Solar – First Solar is the only Solar Thin Film Manufacturer in the world and a benchmark for other thin film companies thinking of making it big.The company was promoted by Wal-Mart promoters and has seen remarkable growth in the last few.This US based company uses Cadmium Tellurium (Cd-Te) Technology and  is the lowest cost panel producer in the world today if you don’t include any penalty for low efficiency.Even if you penalize the Cd-Te Technology for its lower efficiency vis-a-vis the higher efficiency crystalline technology,First Solar is clearly the leader with a core cost of 74c/watt.The company has a roadmap of  reducing the cost to 52c/watt by 2014 and given its track record it seems quite achievable.There is little doubt about First Solar’s ability to survive and flourish due to its massive first mover advantage.

2) Sharp – Sharp,the Japanese Zaibatsu known more for its Electronics Products is also the world’s No 1 Company in terms Solar Module Revenues.Despite its leadership in c-Si Technology,it has shifted focus to a-Si thin film due to higher costs.Sharp has started shipping a-Si modules from its 1 GW capacity plant in Sakai.With its established distribution strengths and technological abilities in LCD Technology,Sharp is one company that can survive the c-Si onslaught.With most of the a-Si thin film competitors bankrupt or in a moribund state,Sharp can capitalize to completely capture this space.However the cost structure of Sharp is not clearly known right now to make a clear call on how this will turn out.Also a 10% efficiency while decent for a-Si technology fall far short of the 13% claims by CIGS start-ups like Miasole.

3) Solar Frontier - Solar Frontier is a subsidiary of Showa Shell Sekiyu and is listed on the Japanese Stock Exchange.The Company has big plans for the Solar Energy Market planning to increase its capacity by more than 10 times in 2011 to around 1 Gw in total.All its 3 plants are located in Miyazaki in Japan and uses previous plasma plant of Hitachi.Solar Frontier claims 11.5% efficiency for its CIS modules which are expected to go upto 14% by 2014.The Company is spending around $1 Billion in Capex for building the 1 GW capacity implying roughly $1 capex/watt which is not exactly cheap though not very expensive either.

China Smartly Lower Solar Subsidy by 30% to Rmb 7 per Watt in 2012 to Lower Burden

6 Feb, 2012
China,Solar Energy,Solar Panels

China which is home to the biggest solar industry in the world and most of the top solar panel manufacturers has decided to lower subsidy in 2012. Note China did not pass a Feed in Tariff Law for a long time as prices of solar energy remained high. But after a massive crash in solar prices and energy in 2011 it passed a FIT law in late 2011 to take advantage. This resulted in a big jump resulting in China becoming one of the top 5 markets in 2011 . Now China is set to become one of the top 3 markets in 2012 if not the biggest . This is due to the fact that other European solar panel markets are rapidly reducing subsidies and China needs to support its solar companies many of which are effectively insolvent like LDK.

Some big German companies like Solon and Solar Millennium have already announced bankruptcy.Note Chinese companies too would have shut down but the state owned Chinese banks are keeping them alive with loans at ridiculous interest rates.LDK  which is buying Sunways is almost insolvent as well with its convertibles trading at less than 50c on the dollar in Singapore.It has more than $3 billion in debt compared to its market cap of around $600 million.It faces massive losses in the coming qtrs and can’t serve the interest payments much less expand.The strong support of the Chinese government for its green companies is keeping them alive.Chinese solar panels have become super cheap due to companies selling at below cost and massive scale.Note all the cheap solar panel brands in the world are Chinese with the exception of First Solar and some Asians.

LDK has managed to spend 22 million Euros despite burning hundred of millions of dollars in cash because it has got the Chinese government trillions backing it.So while Western companies burn and crash,the big crony Chinese companies can expand and acquire.

China has decided to lower its FIT by a big 30% cut to Rmb 7 /watt to lower the subsidy outgo. With the panel prices having fallen so much, it is still profitable to build solar systems at these prices without giving any outsized returns to solar project developers. Unlike many countries where FIT has led to massive unsustainable booms like Spain,Czech, China is proactively cutting any chances of a boom at the bud. Note most of the growth in the Chinese solar market will only help the Chinese solar companies because of their low costs, home advantage and implicit support of the utiltiies.

China’s solar market growth has hit the rocket phase in late 2011 with the announcement of the long awaited national Feed in Tariff . Many of the Chinese utilities have set up large solar farms utilizing the cheap solar panels produced by Chinese solar panel companies. Note Chinese solar companies are the dominant players in the world having almost killed the western solar industry in the last couple of years. With cheap costs and massive government support, China is almost ruling the solar industry globally . In the domestic Chinese market they have even a bigger advantage given the local home conditions and preference of domestic companies . Note China become home to the biggest wind turbine companies when China enacted the domestic content requirements in 2006. With the solar industry , the Chinese government does not need this law as its companies already possess massive advantages over the foreign competition.

Sumco – Latest Japanese Company retreating from Oversupplied Solar Industry (Exits PV Wafers Completely)

5 Feb, 2012
Japan,Solar Energy

Japanese Companies which were the leading solar companies in the early part of the century have steadily lost the top global rankings to Chinese companies. Now many of the top Japanese Solar Energy Companies are retreating from markets and manufacturing completely . Sharp which was the largest solar company in 2009 and 2010 has radically restructured its strategy but is still losing marketshare. Panasonic the second biggest solar company has closed down its Japanese factory. Other Japanese solar companies like Mitsubishi, Kyocera are also being forced to rethink solar panel manufacturing.

Note most of the higher cost producers in the solar industry are effectively bankrupt and are only being supported by government or big parents. Many Western companies have already closed or are on the verge of closing. Some of the bankrupt companies are not finding buyers of their equipment even at 10c/dollar. Massive overcapacity remains in the solar industry particularly in China which is not being taken out fast enough which will probably lead to another bad year for solar stocks in 2012.

Now a new wave of bankruptcies are on the way with Q-Cells likely facing a credit event as it needs to roll over convertibles which come due in February. Note Q-Cells has fallen a long way from being the biggest solar cell company in 2008. Miasole and Nanosolar were Private Equity backed CIGs darlings that were supposed to become the biggest thing following Firsst Solar . Now Nanosolar faceds executive exits while Miasole has fired large number of its workforce failing to find a big parent to support it. Note the smaller companies like Ascent Solar have found backers in Asia . Solar Technologies are seeing Darwin Survival of the Fittest with crystalline silicon solar panel technology beating out thin film solar and solar thermal technologies

Sumco which is the 2nd biggest producer of semiconductor wafers is closing down its solar wafer division after  reporting a massive loss in 2011. The company will close 2 of its solar wafer divisions and shed more than 1000 jobs. Many of the Western companies like REC, Schott have already closed their solar wafer divisions due to a 70% reduction in solar wafer price in 2011. Only big Solar Wafer Producers like GCL , Renesola can be expected to survive the biggest down cycle in the solar industry.

Citing ‘structural’ overcapacity, ‘significant price declines’ and a fall in demand of crystalline silicon wafers, Sumco has decided to completely exit the market. The company expects to incur charges of ¥5 billion, folding both wafer subsidiaries, Sumco Solar Corporation and Minimata Denshi, and noted that it would report a significant operating loss in its fiscal fourth quarter results. Sumco said that wafer prices had declined by 70% from January 2011.Sumco had guided that solar wafer segment losses in the fourth quarter would be -¥7.2 billion and full-year losses of -¥6 billion.

Appendix

Biggest Solar Wafer Companies

Solar Wafer Companies are mainly concentrated in Asia specifically China and Taiwan.Cheap labour,lower land and capital costs as well as presence of major customers has made China the No.1 Solar Wafer Producer in the world.Despite most of the polysilicon being produced in Europe and USA,China leads the way in wafer production.Note semiconductor wafers in contrast are mainly produced in the developed countries like Japan,USA and Germany.The  structural forces of the crystalline silicon industry is forcing vertical integration with cell producers making wafers and wafer production companies making cells.However there are a few companies which predominantly concentrate on supply solar wafers to solar cell manufacturers.Here is the list of the main solar wafer producers which have shown stunning growth in the last few years.

1) GCL Poly – This Chinese company has become one the biggest producers of polysilicon and wafers in 2010 from zero in 2008.Is expanding rapidly but not getting into production of solar cells and panels.The company is also on its way to becoming a Top 3 producer of polysilicon and is expanding by co-locating wafer plants near its customer factories.Has singed massive long term deals with most of the biggest solar panel producers in the world.

2) LDK Solar - This is the biggest producer of solar wafers that are used by crystalline solar panels but is losing its No.1 position to GCL Poly.Is expanding rapidly into other parts of the solar supply chain and could break into top 10 solar panel producer in the next couple of years.

Why Sharp is Abandoning Domestic Factories

Sharp which was the biggest solar company in 2010 in terms of revenues is being finally forced to move its production away from Japan to low cost countries in Asia.Note the relentless cut in prices of solar panels by Chinese solar panel companies has made life impossible for high cost panel companies in Europe and Japan.While US Companies like Sunpower and First Solar always had the majority of their production in low cost locales like Malaysia and Philipines,European solar firms had also started shifting their production overseas with Q-Cells moving to Malaysia and REC  to Singapore.The current glut in solar panels has let to massive bloodletting in the solar industry with some established companies like Evergreen,ENER on the verge of bankruptcy.The sharp cost improvements and increased supply of crystalline silicon solar panels is set about to bring radical changes in the solar industry after a massive boom in 2010.The Second Wave of Thin Film Technology Bankruptcies has already started and we can expect more of that soon.Most of the production bases in Europe should be shuttered as well as costs have become higher than the selling prices.PV Crystalox and REC are already in a lot of trouble,cutting production and forecasting losses in the second half of 2011.

 


Solar Tiles in Australia – Suppliers/ Distributors Wanted

4 Feb, 2012
Australia,Solar Energy

One of my readers wants to install solar tiles in Australia and would like suppliers.Please contact if you can do so

We are researching into the best BIPV solar tiles that are available here in Australia. We want to build our home this year we are planning to build a home with the help of a company who does kit homes and will design one for us like this

We would like to incorporate BIPV solar tiles or roofing when we build – so we are trying to find out a this point what products are now available in Australia and what our choices would be and the range of prices each would be in …just to give us a starting point as we begin to pull all the ideas together ?

We’d really appreciate any information you can send our way that would help us achieving this – the brand/type of BIVP we can use, the best inverter and battery you’d recommend – obviously it will depend on where we are and how much sun our roof will get – but we plan to make it as much as is possible as we’d like to be able create 100% of our power needs or if not at least 80 % . At present as a guide my household uses  approx 10.7 khw of power a day – so that will give you an idea of how many solar tiles we’d need perhaps …if the sun was at its optimum ? We hope to be building on a reasonably sunny block between Ferntree Gully and Belgrave on the high side near bushland …beginning in a couple of months or so

Here is a list of the main Solar Shingle Manufacturers

  1. Energy Conversion Devices (Uni Solar) – After First Solar,Energy Conversion Devices is the second largest US company in Thin Film Technology.After a few quarters of profits in 2008,the company went into the red as its flexible a-Si modules failed to cut costs as fast as others.It has been shutting factories in the US and shifting to low cost locations.Still one of the biggest independent Thin Film Producers.Seems more likely that it will be bought out then survive independently.The company sells solar shingles mainly in Italy and France.The reason is that those countries give higher subsidy for BIPV applications under which solar shingles made by Uni Solar qualify. PowerShingle is the brand under which Uni Solar sells its solar shingles.
  2.  Dow Chemicals – This Chemicals Conglomerate has started producing it properietary Solar Shingles recently.While the company first showcased its DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ SOLAR SHINGLE in 2009,these solar tiles will be available commercially only this year.Note Dow uses the same thin film technology Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS) used by UniSolar.The company has delayed the introduction of the solar shingles technology despite developing them as far back as 2009.The company was supposed to start a factory in Brazil.The company claims that the installed cost of Solar Shingles will be lower than solar panels (though its difficult to think that it will be possible with solar panel prices crashing to as low as $1/watt nowadays).It is not know what the Dow Solar Shingles cost will be
  3. Atlantis Energy Systems was founded in 2002 .They manufacture custom solar BIPV Systems (Building Integrated PhotoVoltaic). They  produces solar BIPV glass and solar PVSunSlate Roof Tiles in the USA.
  4. Sunpower (Total) – Sunpower is a vertically integrated solar energy company known more for its highest efficiency solar panels.Sunpower is present in all 3 segments of the solar sytems business namely a)residential b)commercial and c) utility.
    Sunpower makes the highest efficiency, building integrated SunTiles. The SunTile brand blends into flat and S-Tile roofs to convert sunlight into clean energy. SunTiles are all-black and  built to withstand 110 mph wind-driven rain.
  5. Sharp the Japanese Zaibatsu known more for its Electronics Products is also the world’s No 1 Company in terms Solar Module Revenues.Despite its leadership in c-Si Technology,it has shifted focus to a-Si thin film due to higher costs.Sharp has started shipping a-Si modules from its 1 GW capacity plant in Sakai. It also sells solar shingles in the form os 64 watt  solar panels .The Sharp ND62RU1F is a group of solar shingles all arranged together.It is not really a solar shingle since it does not integrate into the roof but its light since its made of  thin film silicon technology and easy to install.

Another Brutal Year for Solar and Wind Stocks in Offing Despite Growing Demand

1 Feb, 2012
Solar Energy,Wind Energy

Solar and Wind Stocks have been massacred in 2011 mainly due to the following reasons

1) Chinese oversupply which is outcome of its massive industrial overcapacity and investment. This has decimated wind and solar companies in the West while also leading to margins and profits collapsing

China’s rise in solar manufacturing has been nothing short of spectacular.From less than 5% of world marketshare it has gone to more than 50% in the current quarter.Some of its companies like Trina and Yingli are the lowest cost producers of solar modules in the world today.The Europeans like Solarworld and Q-Cells which were dominant until 2 years ago have been swept aside with Q-Cells bleeding red ink . Even in wind energy , China’s growth over the last 2-3 years has been awesome with more than 100% CAGR . It has helped in growing wind turbine manufacturers through domestic content requirements.Now that these companies have sufficient technology and are able to leverage their low cost advantages , China has removed the restrictions in Jan 2010 to attack other markets. Vestas the leading European turbine manufacturer like the solar makers has fallen into the red. The only way for these companies to survive is to move their manufacturing to Asia . Ultimately the technology will also follow ( Applied Materials has also move its R&D to Shanghai). Just like the semi and electronics industry,Europe will start looking like a marginal player in the global alternative energy industry. Despite strong domestic  demand and policy support , the European industry has been outsmarted and outplayed by  the Chinese

2) Commoditazation of Technology and Erosion of Entry Barriers

3) Massive and Irrational Subsidies by Asian countries to support  Green Industry

Despite both Wind and Solar capacity growing strongly in 2011 the stocks have been punished.

2012 has a good chance to be another bad year for these stocks because

a) Wind Power in China has reached a plateau installing almost 50% of the global wind turbine installations

China Wind Power Market has become the biggest in the world with more than 18 GW of capacity installed in one single year, Note China has managed to double its capacity each year since 2005 and at the end of 2010 Wind Capacity totalled 44 GW which makes China the biggest Wind Power country in the world overtaking the USA.China has now got 7 of the Top 15 Global Wind Turbine Manufacturers and 2 of the Top 3 WTG Companies.China’s Massive Demand for Energy has made power plants mushroom in the country where more than 70% of the electricity is met by Coal.Wind Energy still forms only a small part of the power mix at less than 7% of the total power capacity and serves only a fraction of the Kwh of electricity given the lower load factor of Wind Power.Note Wind Power has grown in China as its Advantages as a Clean Source of Energy far outweigh its Cons.However the rapid demand growth has made a top inevitable as a country can only install that many megawatts in a year.

The 2 Biggest Signs of Trouble for the Chinese Wind Power Industry have been seen in the last couple of days.

1) Sinovel has canceled shipments of Electrical Control Systems (ECS) for its Wind Turbines from American Superconductor due to high inventory levels and refused past payments as well.With the biggest Manufacturer of Wind Turbines reporting inventory problems,the situation of the rest can’t be that good

2) The Chinese National Energy Bureau was considering tighter procedures that would include requiring local governments to get the written approval before going ahead with wind projects with installed capacity of less than 50 MW.Earlier it used to be more than 50 MW

3) Hundreds of Wind Turbines have not been connected to the Power Grid due to lack of capacity or transmission lines.China emphasises on investment without factoring in returns is one cause of these orphan wind turbines.

b) Solar Energy Growth may slowdown as well after a blistering 35% growth in 2011 as European countries slow / kill subsidies under the Debt Crisis.

c) Industries have too many players many of which are small and uncompetitive. Though a lot of solar companies have become bankrupt, there still exist too many.

Now a new wave of bankruptcies are on the way with Q-Cells likely facing a credit event as it needs to roll over convertibles which come due in February. Note Q-Cells has fallen a long way from being the biggest solar cell company in 2008. Miasole and Nanosolar were Private Equity backed CIGs darlings that were supposed to become the biggest thing following Firsst Solar . Now Nanosolar faceds executive exits while Miasole has fired large number of its workforce failing to find a big parent to support it. Note the smaller companies like Ascent Solar have found backers in Asia . Solar Technologies are seeing Darwin Survival of the Fittest with crystalline silicon solar panel technology beating out thin film solar and solar thermal technologies

APPENDIX

Wind Energy Stocks

1) Vestas – Vestas the largest Wind Turbine Company in the World has been facing one setback after another.The Danish Company which used to be a Green Investor Favorite till a couple of years can’t seem to find a buyer these days.Stiff competition from China,Slowdown in Wind Energy Farms in the West and now  Wind Blade Problems have formed a perfect storm for this company.

2) General Electric (USA) - General Electric is looking to Invest Heavily in the new Age Green Industry like other Industrial Giants like Siemens,ABB etc.General Electric or GE as it is popularly known is one of the biggest players in the Green Industry globally.It generated $18 billion in Ecomagination revenues in 2009 with $1.5 Billion in Investment.General Electric like other industrial conglomerates like Siemens,Areva and others are in fact low risk plays in the Green Investing sector.GE is strong across most of the Green Sectors today particularly in the area of Smart Grid and Energy Efficiency.GE has a 40-50% marketshare of the US market which is the 2nd largest in the world.Due to its vertical integration,it has one of the highest margins in the industry and remains a formidable player with its acquisition Enron’s Wind Turbine arm proving to be a masterstroke.

3) Gamesa (Spain) - Gamesa the Spanish Wind Turbine Producer and Wind Farm Operator has faced the worst year of its history in 2010.Like Vestas and Suzlon,2010 has been a cruel year for the Wind Industry in the Western Markets and the WTG Players dependent on those markets.Gamesa is one of the worst performing Wind Energy Stocks in 2010.Gamesa is looking to restructure its operations and concentrating on the offshore wind market by focusing on higher megawatt turbines.Gamesa is leading a massive Spanish Research Effort to develop a colossal 15 MW Turbine meant for the fast growing offshore wind sector.But this is a long term plan with 2020 set as the target for the complete development of this new Turbine.Meanwhile Gamesa has become the target of takeover speculation by one of the bigger Chinese Wind Turbine players like Sinovel,Goldwind etc.Gamesa has seen its revenue fall by 28% and profits by  71% with Operating Margins of 4-5%.Things don’t look too good for 2011 either though Orders have started ticking up

4) Suzlon Energy is the biggest Indian Wind Energy Company by far with 4-5 Gigawatts of WTG Capacity per year.However Suzlon has languished in red ink since the beginning of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008.The company started by Tulsi Tanti in 1995 was a shining example of Asian CleanTech with a 10% global marketshare and ranking amongst the top 5 Wind Turbine Makers .Suzlon buoyed by its success had bought controlling equity stakes in Turbine Gears producer Hansen Transmission and European Wind Turbine producer Repower.Suzlon seems to be recovering with increase in orders particularly at its German subsidiary RePower,however a huge debt burden poses problems.

5) Siemens – The largest Green Company in the world,Siemens has a strong presence in the Wind Turbine Segment.The company is strong in Europe and is now expanding to emerging markets like Asia.Given its huge technological strengths in electrical equipment,power transmission and large project construction,Siemens is looking for a dominant role in the growing offshore wind market as well.

6) Goldwind - The Wind Energy Market in China has witnessed the growth of almost 90 companies with little differentiation competing fiercely on prices.This has led to low to zero margins for most of these companies.Goldwind has managed to rise above the competition by becoming the single largest Chinese player and looks to takeover the No.1 position in the world in the next few years.By taking bold risks and with the support of the government,Goldwind has become a threat to the established Wind Turbine Order

7) Sinovel – The 2nd largest Chinese Wind Power Company managed to do a successful IPO in Hong Kong last year despite long delays.The company is looking to expand in the foreign markets particularly the US market and has gotten a local management to help it penetrate the newer market.

8) Dongfang Electric - Dongfang Electric Corporation,China’s largest power equipment producer  is also the 3rd biggest Wind Turbine Producer in China as well .The company has managed to grow impressively like the rest of the Chinese and is looking to expand in foreign markets as well.Recently  bagged a 276 MW $203 million WTG supply contract with Abhijeet Group.

9) Ming Yang Power- Ming Yang is the only significant non-state owned Chinese Wind Energy Company with a 2009 marketshare of around 4%.The Company has a very short history installing its first Wind Turbine just 2 years ago and has seen an exponential growth riding on the incredible Wind Industry Growth in China.

10) Mitsubishi Heavy Industries , the massive Japanese Conglomerate is looking to overseas market for growing its Wind Energy Division.Mitsubishi like other Japanese companies are looking towards Green Industry for growth.Japan already possesses solid strengths in this area with its traditional focus on resource efficiency.While companies like Panansonic and Toyota looks towards Electric Vehicles and Batteries,Sharp and Kyocera towards Wind Energy,Mitsubishi is focusing its energy on the Wind Sector.

11) Enercon – Enercon is a privately listed German company which has almost 22 GW of Wind Turbine Installations in the world.Enercon was the first company to build a gearless Wind Turbine which is one of the biggest innovation in the Wind Energy Industry in recent times.

12) Nordex - Nordex is another German company in the Wind Turbine Industry which was the first one to build a 1 MW Turbine.The company has  not managed to grow fast as the other German companies like Enercon,RePower and Siemens.

13) United Technologies Corporation (UTC) - This US Giant Technology Conglomerate is still a small player in the World Wind Power Market.However it has increased its footprint by acquiring struggling independent US Wind Power company Clipper.

Solar Energy Stocks

Solar Cells Stocks

  1. JA Solar (JASO) ( The Biggest Solar Cell Producer in the World)
  2. Gintech (3514.TW) ( Biggest Solar Cell Supplier in Taiwan)
  3. Motech (6244.TW) ( Solar Cell Supplier in Taiwan with wafer and poly production as well)
  4. E-Ton (3452.TW) ( Survival is in question)
  5. Q-Cells (QCE.DE) The largest solar producer of cells in 2008 faced a horrendous 2009 running losses of as high as Euro 1 billion)
  6. Neo Solar (3576.TW)(Has been one of the fastest growing solar companies)
  7. Del Solar  ( Small Solar Cell Supplier)
  8. IndoSolar ( Small Solar Cell Supplier in India)
  9. Emcore (EMKR) ( Small Specialist suppliers of High Efficiency Multijunction Cells)

Solar Panels Stocks

  1. Suntech (STP) ( The biggest Chinese solar panel producer in the world)
  2. Trina Solar (TSL) ( The most valued Chinese solar panel supplier)
  3. Yingli Green Energy (YGE) ( Top 3 Chinese solar panel supplier)
  4. Jinko Solar (JKS)
  5. Canadian Solar (CSIQ) (Despite Canadian in the name is one of the biggest Chinese solar panel suppliers)
  6. Sunpower Corporation (SPWRA)( Makes the Most Efficiency Solar Panels,bought by French Giant Total)
  7. Hanwha Solar One (HSOL) ( Earlier known as Solarfun,bought by South Korean Conglomerate Hanwha)
  8. Sharp ( Biggest Japanese Solar Compan)
  9. Sanyo Panasonic( Sanyo plans to invest more than  70% of its total investment over the next  3 years in its renewable energy and energy storage segment)
  10. Kyocera(Kyocera is Japan’s second largest solar panel producing company)
  11. Mitsubishi( Mistubishi is another old time Japanese solar company which has a low profile solar module and system business)
  12. LG (It is selling solar modules in the South Korean and European markets and has 240 MW capacity)
  13. Samsung ( The company makes silicon solar cells and panels,will start making poly with MEMC)
  14. Hyundai ( The first South Korean company to move int solar panel production)
  15. Solarworld (SWV.DE)- Solarworld is the Biggest German producer of solar panels,the company is one of the few to still have operations in Europe and USA)
  16. Bosch (Automotive company,made expensive acquisitions,now moving production to Malaysia)
  17. Shanghai Chaori Solar Energy (Listed in China,integrated producer of solar panels)
  18.  AUO ( AUO has a  JV with SunPower’s to build 1.4 gigawatt third solar cell fabrication facility  in Malaysia)
  19. China Sunenergy(CSUN) (A Small China Solar Energy Cell and Panel Supplier)
  20. Arise Technologies (Canadian small suppliers of solar panels)
  21. BP (Outsources production of solar panels,sells under brandname )

GE View

General Electric Co. expects increased competition and a reduction in subsidies by cash-strapped governments to lead to more companies exiting the wind and solar power businesses, but the industrial behemoth still sees growing long-term demand.”There’s going to be a lot of casualties in the wind and solar businesses, there already are in solar,” John Krenicki, who leads GE’s energy division, told Reuters in an interview on Monday.

Wind Industry Oversupply , Sinovel Profits to Halve in 2012

Sinovel Wind Group Co., China’s biggest wind-turbine maker, expects its 2011 earnings to fall by more than 50 percent as heightened competition at home and abroad dragged down prices.

Rivalry within the market depressed prices, trimming revenue and profit margins, the Beijing-based company said yesterday in a statement. “Cyclical fluctuations” in the world economy also delayed some projects, curbing income, it said.

“It’s difficult for these guys to drive costs down at the same pace as revenue, so margins are getting squeezed,” Aaron Chew, an analyst with Maxim Group LLC in New York, said by telephone. Sinovel may still fare better than European counterparts such as Vestas because of lower labor expenses and more advantageous government subsidies in China, he said.

Lower Support

Vestas has cut sales forecasts twice since October after Asian competitors grabbed market share and U.S. and European governments reined in support for renewable power to curb budget deficits.

A tighter government approval process for projects in China has intensified competition further, spurring domestic companies to study expansion elsewhere. “We do not expect growth in wind installations in China in 2012 to 2014,” so growth abroad would allow the main Chinese players to boost sales, McLoughlin said.

Bad Journalism on German Solar Subsidies Analysis – Why Media persistently gets it wrong

1 Feb, 2012
Solar Energy

I continue to be surprised by bad and shallow analysis of renewable energy subsidies done by media. Most of it is due to bad research and lack of investigative and unbiased journalism. Writers with little or no background in energy or cleantech sensationalize an issue taking a report from some biased thinktank. Here is one example from a website called ironically Reason.com which you can read here http://reason.com/blog/2012/01/31/black-hole-sun-germany-spends-100-billio

What the writer is saying that Germany is spending massive amounts of subsidies to get little amount of power. What he has missed

1) He is not comparing the subsidies for solar with that of fossil fuels. Does he know that Fossil Fuel Subsidies globally amount to $550 billion a year which is many times more than that given to Solar, Wind and others.Even a developed country like Norway gives 5 times more subsidies to fossil fuels than renewable energy

Norway has been hailed as the toughest cutter of Greenhouse Gas Emissions amongst the developed countries promising to cut Carbon Emissions by  30-40% by 2020 from the 1990 Levels.Compared to this USA has promised a measly  17% cut from 2005 levels and the EU  only 20% by 2020 from 1990 levels.Norway’s cost of cutting emissions is also quite huge $200 a tons of Carbon Dioxide.Norway has also promised to cut Carbon Emissions internally rather than buying cheap carbon credits from abroad using its massive sovereign fund.Note the Cap and Trade Kyoto Protocol has been criticized for being ineffectual in curbing Global Warming.However a NGO reveal today that Norway’s spending on Fossil Fuel Subsidies is $1.4 Billion annually which is 5 times more than on its Subsidy for Greener Forms of Energy.Note $550 Billion is spent worldwide on subsidizing Fossil Fuel Energy which is multiples of that spend on Renewable Energy.Norway is a major Oil Producer and its Huge Sovereign Fund of  $450 Billion has been built mainly through Oil Revenues.Therefore the massive subsidies on Oil is not surprising though incompatible with its commitment towards Climate Change.

2) He says that 18 billion euros is the cost of solar energy over 20 years . He conveniently forgets/ does not know the basic concept of time value of money.

3) He does not consider the costs on health,pollution,mining deaths and other social costs of fossil fuel electricity. He forgets to mention the BP Oil Spill and Fukushima Disaster.

4) He says it is cheaper to do energy efficiency than solar energy , a fact that is well know but will energy efficiency alone solve our global warming problems. Nobody doubts the fact that energy efficiency is cheaper but you need renewable energy as well

Mainstream media is woefully inadequate in presenting the problems that we are faced with particularly in a topic as complex as climate change. Taking a report and presenting it without a balanced opinion makes it worse.

Germans are happy paying 10-15% extra for electricity  Green and Clean Energy which would make a Better World. Most of the other developed countries like USA,Canada have shown only shocking apathy towards global warming . Which is better , it does not take a rocket scientist to figure it out. Germany has alone brought solar energy prices near grid parity due to its strong and pragmatic support to green energy  .Though the FIT policy is not perfect it is much better than policies implemented elsewhere.

Read more on Pros and Cons of Renewable Energy here

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